A family of four have been told it's their own fault for being confined to a small studio flat.
Milton and his family have been stuck on the housing list for more than three years, Birmingham Live reports.
The 53-year-old, his wife Cecilia, 50 and their two kids - aged 18 and 14 - have criticised their local authority's response.
Rebecca told the council she has to get changed in the toilet as it's the only place she has privacy.
The teen told My London: "While my mum cooks, I try to do my homework but it's really distracting and really stressful.
"Because everything is together in one room, the smell of food lingers when I’m trying to sleep and this ends up affecting my studies because I cannot sleep well.
"I can't focus. I have to go outside the flat to get some air to deal with the stress because the flat is too small, I cannot think in there. I don’t have any privacy, I have to go and change my clothes in the toilet which is really uncomfortable.
"I can’t bring my friends home because it is too small and my parents and my brother are there."
"It is without question that you would have been aware that the room in a shared house was not going to be suitable to accommodate your family of four," Southwark Council wrote.
"You had no accommodation for your family and did not take any steps to secure suitable accommodation for them.
"Despite this you made the decision to save money to buy plane tickets for them to join you in highly insecure accommodation rather than seek affordable and suitable accommodation for your entire household.
"The suggestion that you had no other choice but to place your family in an immediate situation of statutory overcrowded is not accepted by this authority.
"It is our position that it is the choices you made that led to you occupying accommodation that was statutory overcrowded at the outset."
Milton told My London: "Our living situation in the flat is not the best. School time during the pandemic was hard for my children, they could not listen and concentrate in their classes.
"At the beginning of June we decided to make a protest with HASL, to be able to ask them to listen to us and that they can put us in band 1, that day we spoke with Michael Scorer [strategic director for housing and modernisation at the council] and he promised us that he would help with our case.
"After a few days he passed our case to another person, who offered us a private apartment but it was too far from our jobs and my children's school.
"It was also very expensive. All this time, they haven't told us anything positive about our case."
Councillor Stephanie Cryan, cabinet member for council homes and homelessness, said: “While this is still being dealt with as a legal issue we cannot go into too much detail about the family’s individual circumstances – we would prefer to communicate with them directly.
"However, I can confirm that we have offered lots of support to them and we assessed their housing situation in relation to their move from Ecuador, and also from Lambeth. We also offered them suitable housing in the private sector and asked if they wished to make a homeless application, which may include temporary accommodation.
"These offers were declined. We are still here to offer the family any support they require and I sincerely hope their housing situation is soon resolved.”
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